More than 40 million people watched the NFL’s two preliminaries for the Super Bowl on Sunday, a drop of more than 8 percent compared to last year’s conference championship games. The Nielsen company said an average of 43.2 million people watched the games. While that’s down from the 47.1 million who watched the conference championships last year, it was a more heartening report than the NFL had gotten only a week earlier. This year’s divisional championship round had seen a 16 percent dip in audience size. […] After seeing viewership erosion all year, the NFL will be anxious to see...

The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night. The next question is how did it happen? According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated. According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications...

WASHINGTON -- Allegations of a pro-gay takeover, boycotts, embezzlement and terrorist-loving board members. Sounds like a Hollywood version of a conspiracy thriller, but it's not. It's the buzz around this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the nation's single largest annual congregation of conservative leaders. Conservatives riding a new wave of momentum thanks to the strength of the Tea Party movement and big wins in the November midterm election should be riding high ahead of this year's CPAC,scheduled to take place in Washington on Feb. 10-13. But the conference, which has met for 38 years, has found itself beset by conflict...

We are told by careful pollsters that half of the American people believe that American troops should be brought home from Iraq immediately. This news discourages supporters of our efforts there. Not me, though: I am relieved. Given press coverage of our efforts in Iraq, I am surprised that 90 percent of the public do not want us out right now. Between January 1 and September 30, 2005, nearly 1,400 stories appeared on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news. More than half focused on the costs and problems of the war, four times as many as those that discussed...

It's such a respectable name for an outfit dedicated to character assassination: Accountability for Colorado. With such respectable men and women behind the respectable front, too. They include two of Colorado's richest citizens, Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, as well as the Colorado Education Association, the AFL-CIO and the corporate leadership of Xcel Energy and Comcast. Gill and Stryker each gave the independent political committee $75,000 in recent months — pocket change for them, perhaps, but serious political money — while the CEA chipped in $105,000, the AFL-CIO $50,000, and Xcel and Comcast 10 grand each. For what purpose? In...

Steelers will begin search for successor immediately Bill Cowher, who led the Steelers to 10 playoff appearances, eight division titles and the fifth Super Bowl title in franchise history, will announce his resignation today after 15 seasons as head coach, sources have told the Post-Gazette. Cowher and his wife, Kaye, are scheduled to fly to Pittsburgh this morning to attend a 1 p.m. news conference at the team's South Side facility and announce the decision that has been expected for several weeks, if not longer -- that he will resign, at age 49, to spend more time with his family....

Broncos right cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed this morning. After leaving a nightclub in a limousine, Williams was shot and killed near 11th and Grant in Denver. The team confirmed the death of Williams. A female passenger also was shot, according to a source familiar with Williams. Williams was 24. "I learned from the Denver Police Deprtment that this incident has occured," Williams' agent, Jeff Griffin said early Monday morning. "No other details have been released. I sincerely offer my condolences and feelings to his family." Williams was the Broncos' starting right cornerback and played his final game...

The most telling thing lately is that Bill Cowher is discussing his future publicly. It's time. That's what Chuck Noll told me when I asked why he was retiring as Steelers coach in December 1991. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's time." Now it's Bill Cowher's time. I have the same feeling now as I had near the end of the 1991 season when I believed Noll was ready to hang it up. I think Cowher will "retire" soon after this season ends. First, here's some history on Noll's retirement, the only end to a head coach's career with...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- As putrid as the Oakland Raiders were to start the season, they're now at least as good -- or is it bad? -- as the Super Bowl champs. Chris Carr returned an interception by Ben Roethlisberger 100 yards for a touchdown, Nnamdi Asomugha also took back an interception for a score and the Raiders mounted a late goal-line stand to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13 Sunday.

Official Website of the Pittsburgh Steelers This year is quickly moving in the wrong direction with regards to an effective playoff run. What are your thoughts on the some of the issues and how things need to change for a turnaround in 2006? Me? #1 The Running Game The running game isn't quite at the level of past teams. Understatement of the year, huh? Operating a historically ball control offense, without a featured back capable of providing a consistent 3-4 yrds per carry, is a problem. That void allows pass coverages more flexibility without fear of a Steeler running...

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (May 15, 2006) -- Doug Flutie retired from pro football, ending a 21-year career in which the Heisman Trophy winner puzzled both opposing defenses and his own coaches with his unconventional style at quarterback. The decision by the 43-year-old Flutie was announced by the New England Patriots, for whom he played five games last season. Flutie spent 12 seasons in the NFL and also played in the USFL and the Canadian Football League. He won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award six times and the league's Grey Cup championship three times. Flutie finishes with 14,715 passing yards and...

Ho, ho, ho, the Eagles get T.O. The NFL gives us a holiday treat in 2006 as new Dallas Cowboys star Terrell Owens gets to face his old team, the Philadelphia Eagles, for the second time on Christmas Day. The first meeting will come Oct. 8 when the Cowboys travel to Philadelphia. The NFL released its schedule Thursday -- hasn't that become a holiday, too? -- and the two Owens-Eagles games stand out among the slate. The Christmas Day game is really good because we'll all get to see it, a nice diversion from putting together kids' toys or listening...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Coaches from around the AFC were up early Tuesday to indulge in a buffet featuring bulging omelets, crisp bacon and delectable fruit. For most of them, it was a meal fit for a king. For Bill Cowher, it was a breakfast of champions. Cowher had what all these men wanted -- and it had nothing to do with the corn muffin and potatoes piled high on his plate. His team is the reigning Super Bowl champion. And it's why he was the knight of these roundtables at the Hyatt Grand Cypress hotel. "Every time I see Bill,...

Less than a week after coach Dennis Green declared that his team would not do any shopping in the higher-priced aisles of the free agent market, the Arizona Cardinals landed one of the highest-profile players in the entire pool on Sunday, signing former Indianapolis Colts star tailback Edgerrin James. In terms of productivity and star quality, they don't get much bigger than James, a four-time Pro Bowl performer, in free agency. And in terms of compensation, contracts for tailbacks don't get much bigger than the one James signed in culminating his weekend visit with Arizona officials and coaches. ESPN.com has...

The Beaver County student who made national headlines after being humiliated by a teacher for wearing a Denver Broncos jersey to school has transferred to another district. When Joshua Vannoy returned to Beaver Falls High School on Jan. 23, a week after he complained about popular teacher John Kelly, he was met with silence and alienation from his classmates, and was escorted to and from his classes by a district employee. "Just a few kids were talking to him," said Nicholas Frisk III, Joshua's attorney. The weight of isolation and scrutiny took its toll on the 17-year-old honor student and...

Michigan's Department of Human Services is proposing new administrative rules for an industry that cares for 50,000-plus state residents. But are the proposed rules intended to help patients -- or unionize 5,000 adult foster care and home-for-the-aged facilities? Opposition to the rules' change has been mounting since last summer, when the rules were first proposed. Last week the political fat hit the fire when Senate Republicans introduced legislation to stop the Granholm administration from imposing the rules. That set up a clear test of legislative and executive authority. Ordinarily, the executive branch comes up with the rules to implement laws...

DENVER (Jan. 17, 2006) -- Every so often over the past 15 years or so, hard-hitting Broncos safety John Lynch has had to gird up for a confrontation -- a rite of passage is more like it -- that almost every defender must face at some point in his career. Tackling Jerome Bettis. "They're all memorable when they're against him," Lynch said of the hits and punishment he and Bettis have dished to each other over the years, both in college and the pros. "You've just got to bring a lot because you know he's carrying a lot." Denver defensive...

Rough road -- Belichick calls Denver ’toughest challenge’ By John Tomase Monday, January 9, 2006 - Updated: 07:13 AM EST There are two ways of looking at the Patriots’ first visit to Denver this season. On one hand, they were thoroughly trounced, trailing 28-3 before mounting a fruitless rally in a 28-20 defeat on Oct. 16. On the other hand, they played one of their worst games of the year, allowed 432 yards from scrimmage, and still found themselves within a touchdown and two-point conversion of a tie with eight minutes to go. Regardless of how you interpret that defeat,...